IMEWE submarine cable launched for commercial use

Press release

Published December 28th, 2010 - 01:23 GMT

Al Bawaba

A consortium of nine partners comprising of leading global telecom operators, has completed and launched of a high-capacity, state of the art fibre-optic submarine cable that stretches from India to Europe. The 13000 kilometers long three pair fiber optic cable named IMEWE (India- Middle East- Western Europe),has a design capacity of 3.84 terabits per second, and is also the most advanced cable connecting India in South Asia to Italy and France in Western Europe via the Middle East with landings enroute in Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon.

Ali Amiri, Executive Vice President of Etisalat's Carrier and Wholesale Services stated "The extra capacity and reliability provided by the IMEWE cable will not only delight customers across the region and bringing great benefit to UAE as a whole ,but also will be responding to substantial growth in capacity requirements due to surge in broadband demand witnessed by the region. Etisalat's position in the Middle east, Africa and Asia has been established, thanks to its strategy of making long-term investments in markets and technologies that realize return for many years to come. Our participation in the IMEWE is an example of this vision taken from and we expect to see great results in terms of both the performance of our network and an enhanced customer experience."

The IMEWE consortium comprises of nine major telecom companies: Bharti Airtel (India), Etisalat (UAE), France Telecom-Orange (France), OGERO (Lebanon), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (Pakistan), Saudi Telecom Company STC (Saudi Arabia), Telecom Egypt (Egypt), Telecom Italia Sparkle (Italy), and Tata Communications (India). IMEWE is the third major submarine cable operational between India and Europe after SMW3 and SMW4 and is expected to play a major role in meeting ever growing bandwidth requirement of Indian sub continent and Middle East to Europe and beyond. IMEWE system would also play a key role in expansion of broadband services among masses in concerned countries.

With the activation and the beginning of operations of IMEWE, concerned member countries shall witness a new era in communications that will undoubtedly lay the foundations for faster international connectivity for generations to come. IMEWE system shall also play a major role of providing continuity of service in case of technical problems in other existing major cables on the route.

Background Information

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etisalat has deployed many innovative technologies and services to remain at the leading edge of customer experience.
etisalat’s senior leaders understands the need to continue its investments in building the networks of the future because the positive effects filter down to the rest of the economy. Today, the UAE boasts of an excellent telecoms ecosystem, capable of driving successes across industries and sectors.

Company Profile

Saudi Telecom Company (stc)

We are a world-class digital leader providing innovative services and platforms to our customers and enabling the digital transformation of the MENA region

Company Profile

Orange

Orange Jordan is one of the 29 subsidiaries of Orange Group, a leading telecommunications operator in the world that ranks in the top ten among its competitors.. Orange Jordan is an international brand with a local spirit, applying globally acquired experience to initiate and maintain a digital transformation of the country that will lead to greater opportunities at shared socioeconomic prosperity for its people. It has an expanding customer base of more than five million, a network of around 1,800 dedicated employees, and more than 55 branches.